Brief History of Columbus
County, Texas). The first four of these persons were apparently the
surviving children of Benjamin Beeson. The fifth, Nepsey Berry, was
apparently a daughter who had married, had two sons, and then died.
An 1825 list of the settlers on the Colorado River reports that Benjamin
Beeson had four sons, then aged 15, 11, 9, and 3, and two daughters,
aged 17 and 14 (see TheAustin Papers, volume 1, page 1244). The two
daughters apparently were Lydia and Nepsey, though it has not been
determined which was the elder. Nepsey's husband was John F. Berry,
who received a land grant in present Fayette County up the Colorado
River from La Grange in 1831. He had died before February 27, 1837,
when Leander and Abel Beeson were appointed guardians of James and
John Berry, "infant minors of the Estate of John F. Berry, Decd" by the
probate court in Colorado County (see Probate Minute Book A, page 1).
The third daughter of Benjamin Beeson, Mary Ann, must have been born
after 1825. Indeed, she was said to be just 20 years old on the 1850
census. She had married Basil W. P. Sapp on March 6, 1846. In 1850,
having abandoned his wife three years earlier, Sapp was living in Tyler
County and Mary Ann was in Colorado County with a two year old girl,
Lydia, and the nineteen year old John Berry. John's brother, James, had
died before January 28, 1850, when his death was noted before the
Colorado County probate court (see Seventh Census of the United
States (1850), Colorado County, Texas and Tyler County, Texas;
Marriage Book B, page 75; and Probate Final Record Book D, page 209,
Office of the County Clerk, Colorado County, Texas; and MaryAnn Sapp
v. B. W. P. Sapp, Cause File 766, Office of the District Clerk, Colorado
County, Texas).
Judging by the ages listed for them on the 1850 census (36 and
33 respectively), Abel and Leander Beeson must have been the 11 and
9 year old sons of Benjamin Beeson in 1825 (see Seventh Census of the
United States (1850), Colorado County, Texas). The 15 year old son
probably was Collins Beeson, who was killed by Indians some eleven
years later, on September 21, 1836 (see Telegraph and Texas Register,
October 5, 1836. Dewees also relates the story of his death, in his
"letter" of August 29, 1837, on pages 211-212).
The Texas Presbyterian of March 13, 1847 reports on the death
of Lydia Dewees, who is called "Mrs. E. G. Dewees" in the article but
identified as the "consort," that is, the wife, of William B. Dewees. Even
though the item reports that her funeral was not to be conducted until
"the 1 st Sabbath in April," she must have died before March 7, because
on that day, her apparently not-too-grief-stricken husband married a
second time, to Angelica Besch (see Marriage Book B, page 87, Office
of the County Clerk, Colorado County, Texas). Lydia G. Dewees' death
is confirmed by the probate records of Colorado County. On June 1,
1847, the court noted that her death had been proven and identified her
13
